5 Vegetables You Can Re-grow From Scraps

So you’ve got a chef in you… you probably spend hours in the kitchen- chopping vegetables, working with proteins and spicing your culinary creations. Well that’s great, but did you know, you could actually re-use the waste vegetable scraps for something that’s actually worth the effort.

We promise you, after you read this, you’ll definitely reconsider before dumping all those extra vegetable scraps into the garbage bin. While you could always use your extra bits of vegetables and peels as a compost, this is something out-of-the-box, and is pretty useful.

No, you don’t need to have a green thumb, or need to be a gardening expert to get this sorted out- you just need some basic scrap vegetables from your kitchen, and you’re good to go. Here we’ve put down the 5 simple and easiest kitchen scraps you can put to use, and how you can use them to your benefit. Read on…

Green Onions

These plants come pretty handy, especially when you’re doing some good Chinese cooking. Well, after trying this simple DIY plant-from-scrap technique, we bet you won’t have to purchase a green onion ever. Here’s how you do it-

Start by taking the white roots from the green onions, which you usually discard, and place them in a container with a small amount of water.

Within a few days, you’ll see them growing- make sure you change the water every 5 days, and use the growths as required, re-using the white roots so that you have a constant supply of the green onion.

Potatoes

Okay, your kid probably got this one for his school project, and you never paid much attention to it, but the truth is, you could actually grow potatoes yourself- right in your front yard. Here’s how you can do it –

Most potato scraps have the little outgrowths what we commonly know as ‘eyes’ on them.

Chop 2 inch square pieces of old potatoes that can’t be used, that have at least one ‘eye’ on them.

Now leave them out at room temperature for a couple of days- make sure you don’t allow any moisture to reach the potato pieces, so that they don’t rot.

Now it’s time to plant your dried out potatoes. Make sure that the soil you’re planting them in is very rich in nutrients; it is always a good idea to add some compost.

Plant the potatoes 8 inch deep within the soil, their eye buds facing the sky. Now cover them with the soil. Sprinkle some water occasionally, and soon, you’ll have an easy potato plant ready!

Cabbage:

Love your green leafy cabbage too much to do without? Here’s how you can cultivate it right in your kitchen.

Pick up a 1 inch piece stalk from a cabbage leaf, preferably the one that’s nearing the root region, and place it in a container of water, similar to the green onions.

You should see roots and leaves sprouting- 7 to 10 days following that, remove the plant from the water, and place it in the soil such that the roots are below the soil and the leaves above it. Soon, you’ll have a fully grown cabbage at hands!

Garlic

The medicinal uses of garlic are many, and if you’re a natural health enthusiast yourself, there’s good news- you can plant garlic just with some old pieces of leftover garlic! Here’s how-
Pick out pieces of old garlic, preferably those that are now starting to turn green from the middle.

Grab a large pot and plant a few pieces of these garlic, sprinkle some water, and allow it to spurt.

Just when you start seeing small green outgrowths coming up, remove them and cut them into tiny pieces and plant them once again. Viola! You’re all done. In a few days, you’ll have fresh garlic coming up.

Ginger

Ginger is commonly used to add a punch of flavor to soups and other food preparations, and if you’re just about to throw away a few bits and pieces right there from your vegetable box, wait and read this. Here we’ve put down a simple and cool way to grow your ginger yourself- and that too with kitchen scrap!

Pick up a chunk of ginger that seems to be the freshest, and place it into the soil.

Make sure the region you’re planting it in doesn’t receive direct sunlight- filtered sunlight is great for ginger plants.

You will soon see a new growth coming up from the soil- pull it out, cut it to pieces, and re-plant into the soil.

Soon, you’ll find good, freshly grown ginger right in your front yard.